[2021-08-10] AMC will accept bitcoin as payment for movie tickets by year end

[Kakmakr]

AMC Entertainment said Monday it will start accepting bitcoin as payment for movie tickets and concessions if purchased online at all of its U.S. theaters.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/09/amc-says-it-will-accept-bitcoin-as-payment-for-movie-tickets-by-year-end.html

So, this has been tried before by other Movie theaters and it died a slow death... will AMC Entertainment be able to find a way to make a success of this? I hope they offer some kind of incentive for people to pay with Bitcoin and not with Fiat currencies. (Discounts when you pay with Bitcoin?)

[SFR10]

So, this has been tried before by other Movie theaters and it died a slow death... will AMC Entertainment be able to find a way to make a success of this?

Not sure which movie theater chain did it before, but seeing that they're the "largest movie theater chain in the world with 620 theatres ^{[7,967 screens]} in the US alone", I expect a different result.
^{- I hope they could find a way to not limit it to online purchases [I do know it's hard, but it isn't impossible] and at the same time, expand it to Europe as well.}

[Betwrong]

~
So, this has been tried before by other Movie theaters and it died a slow death... will AMC Entertainment be able to find a way to make a success of this? I hope they offer some kind of incentive for people to pay with Bitcoin and not with Fiat currencies. (Discounts when you pay with Bitcoin?)

I think those were very small chains, or some single theaters even, because it's impossible to google about them right now, even with adding a minus sign to amc.

AMC, being the largest theater chain in the world with more 11k screens(globally) is in an advantageous position: they can afford holding BTC for many months if the rate isn't in their favor at the moment.

[dansus021]

movie theater is heavly hit by this pandemic  i hope the pandemic is over. and good news like this need to be appreciated

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

I don't know if it's going to help them, aren't they one of the many companies that are being targeted by hedge fund managers that short the prices. Plus, it's not like people will hassle themselves into buying tickets with crypto, fiat does the work and it won't change anytime soon.

[Lucius]

I hope they offer some kind of incentive for people to pay with Bitcoin and not with Fiat currencies. (Discounts when you pay with Bitcoin?)

This is one very important factor when it comes to crypto payment, and many completely ignore it. For example, I have the opportunity to buy almost everything I want online, but a seller who accepts cryptocurrencies gives a bigger discount if you pay with cards or cash than with Bitcoin - so who will choose crypto payment?

Another example is a pizzeria that allows payments in cryptocurrencies, and one day a week gives a 30% discount for all those who pay in crypto - it is not difficult to conclude who better promotes payment with cryptocurrencies. Giving people the opportunity for something without further promoting it is often tantamount to failure (especially when it comes to new technologies).

[LeGaulois]

Great to see that, but I don't think we'll see many people paying for their tickets with bitcoins due to the volatility.
If you buy your ticket today and then tomorrow the value of Bitcoin goes up, it's like you're paying more for your ticket.
Considering that most people who jumped on the crypto wagon are only interested in speculating, I'm sure that's something they'll be careful about.

There are 6 months left before this news is effective. Between this laspe time a lof things can change. Even more when you see they just started to developp their specific IT system.
By the way, the coompany' shares gained ~5% within minutes after the annoncement. When I think about it, companies can manipulate easily the share's price, even if they do nothing at the end.

This is one very important factor when it comes to crypto payment, and many completely ignore it.

True, but so far I've never see a shop online giving me a discount for paying in BTC

[cr1776]

I agree.  There probably won't be many people using bitcoin to buy tickets right now.  It seems more like an announcement aimed at getting some media play.  Bitcoin is great, but this isn't a huge deal until everyone is doing it.  So it is a start.

Great to see that, but I don't think we'll see many people paying for their tickets with bitcoins due to the volatility.
If you buy your ticket today and then tomorrow the value of Bitcoin goes up, it's like you're paying more for your ticket.
Considering that most people who jumped on the crypto wagon are only interested in speculating, I'm sure that's something they'll be careful about.

There are 6 months left before this news is effective. Between this laspe time a lof things can change. Even more when you see they just started to developp their specific IT system.
By the way, the coompany' shares gained ~5% within minutes after the annoncement. When I think about it, companies can manipulate easily the share's price, even if they do nothing at the end.

This is one very important factor when it comes to crypto payment, and many completely ignore it.

True, but so far I've never see a shop online giving me a discount for paying in BTC

[DaveF]

Wonder if they are going to take it themselves or though BitPay / Coinbase Commerce / something like that or through their own payment gateway.

The quote

the movie theater chain will have the IT systems in place to take the cryptocurrency as payment by the end of 2021.

is a little vague. It can mean they are doing it or they are putting in terminals that run it though someone else.

Going to be interesting to see how it plays out and if anyone else follows.

-Dave

[trannguyenbtc]

When Tesla announced they were taking Bitcoin, it set off a frenzy that caused Bitcoin to rise from around $30k to about $65k in a matter of weeks.  Of course, prior to the announcement, Tesla purchased $1.5 Billion Bitcoin.  Later they said the wouldn't take Bitcoin, but not before they sold a portion for a nice profit.
I hope AMC isn't playing the same game.

[bbc.reporter]

I predict ticket sales through bitcoin will be low or be very close to none. This is because much of the bitcoin holders buy bitcoin to hold and sell later on a much higher price similar to stocks and commodities. However, if people were given jobs that pay in bitcoin, I reckon it would be different because if salaries are paid in bitcoin, those people would have no choice but spend them hehehe.

[Betwrong]

I predict ticket sales through bitcoin will be low or be very close to none. This is because much of the bitcoin holders buy bitcoin to hold and sell later on a much higher price similar to stocks and commodities. However, if people were given jobs that pay in bitcoin, I reckon it would be different because if salaries are paid in bitcoin, those people would have no choice but spend them hehehe.

I would agree with you that most part of the Bitcoin holders won't be buying movie tickets with their BTC these days. But "none"? - No.

AMC is a big chain with, let's take pre-pandemic figures, 1,226,966,715 tickets sold in 2019. I'm sure, among so many people there will be millions of Bitcoin holders, and thousands of them will buy those tickets, even maybe just to buy something with BTC, just like Laszlo Hanyecz did one day.

[Lucius]

True, but so far I've never see a shop online giving me a discount for paying in BTC

Some people have the misconception that even the prices in BTC should be higher in order to protect the seller from volatility, although at the same time they use payment processors that convert BTC into fiat at the time of payment, so there is actually no risk.

An example of a real promotion of cryptocurrency payments exists in my country - one of the top 50 pizzerias in the EU offers a 30% discount every Wednesday if you pay with one of the cryptocurrencies. I think this is the right way to promote cryptocurrency payments, because who wouldn’t enjoy a good pizza and drinks and pay 30% less than the regular price

[Slow death]

I hope they offer some kind of incentive for people to pay with Bitcoin and not with Fiat currencies. (Discounts when you pay with Bitcoin?)

I think even if they did that discount, I doubt that many people in this crypto world will take their bitcoin to pay for movies while they can continue to do Hodl and take fiat and pay movie tickets. It's a very simple matter this, few people will use bitcoin for payments especially in this phase as the price is very high and could increase a lot in the coming months and years. this spirit of making Hodl and profits of more than 10X is something that is well installed in many people's minds and I doubt it will change anytime soon.

movie theater is heavly hit by this pandemic  i hope the pandemic is over. and good news like this need to be appreciated

unfortunately this pandemic will not end soon, even people who are getting vaccinated with two doses are dying of covid, the number of cases keeps increasing every day

[bbc.reporter]

I predict ticket sales through bitcoin will be low or be very close to none. This is because much of the bitcoin holders buy bitcoin to hold and sell later on a much higher price similar to stocks and commodities. However, if people were given jobs that pay in bitcoin, I reckon it would be different because if salaries are paid in bitcoin, those people would have no choice but spend them hehehe.

I would agree with you that most part of the Bitcoin holders won't be buying movie tickets with their BTC these days. But "none"? - No.

AMC is a big chain with, let's take pre-pandemic figures, 1,226,966,715 tickets sold in 2019. I'm sure, among so many people there will be millions of Bitcoin holders, and thousands of them will buy those tickets, even maybe just to buy something with BTC, just like Laszlo Hanyecz did one day.

Hehe I might be exaggerating, however, yes there will be ticket sales in bitcoin but the bitcoiners’ purchase of them would be more for virtue signalling than buying for the movie ticket. It will be big news only in the beginning. I predict AMC will remove bitcoin acceptance within 5 years because of very few sales through bitcoin or they might try to increase sales through crypto by accepting altcoins hehehehe.

[Betwrong]

I predict ticket sales through bitcoin will be low or be very close to none. This is because much of the bitcoin holders buy bitcoin to hold and sell later on a much higher price similar to stocks and commodities. However, if people were given jobs that pay in bitcoin, I reckon it would be different because if salaries are paid in bitcoin, those people would have no choice but spend them hehehe.

I would agree with you that most part of the Bitcoin holders won't be buying movie tickets with their BTC these days. But "none"? - No.

AMC is a big chain with, let's take pre-pandemic figures, 1,226,966,715 tickets sold in 2019. I'm sure, among so many people there will be millions of Bitcoin holders, and thousands of them will buy those tickets, even maybe just to buy something with BTC, just like Laszlo Hanyecz did one day.

Hehe I might be exaggerating, however, yes there will be ticket sales in bitcoin but the bitcoiners’ purchase of them would be more for virtue signalling than buying for the movie ticket. It will be big news only in the beginning. I predict AMC will remove bitcoin acceptance within 5 years because of very few sales through bitcoin or they might try to increase sales through crypto by accepting altcoins hehehehe.

If there will be very few sales, then AMC will not lose much even in the worst case scenario, like 50% drop in price in a very short period of time, or even 80% drop during a longer period while they were still holding the BTC from ticket sales. Think of it, why would they stop accepting Bitcoin if they could easily afford the losses, and, at the same time, be respected by the ever-growing crypto community?

[jossiel]

That's a good promo for paying tickets for bitcoin. With fee being reduced and it's very handy, they can add that promo of discounts for bitcoin payments made.

But we don't know if this is going to have a good impact to their business. What we're happy at, another company just announced accepting payments in bitcoin.

[bbc.reporter]

I predict ticket sales through bitcoin will be low or be very close to none. This is because much of the bitcoin holders buy bitcoin to hold and sell later on a much higher price similar to stocks and commodities. However, if people were given jobs that pay in bitcoin, I reckon it would be different because if salaries are paid in bitcoin, those people would have no choice but spend them hehehe.

I would agree with you that most part of the Bitcoin holders won't be buying movie tickets with their BTC these days. But "none"? - No.

AMC is a big chain with, let's take pre-pandemic figures, 1,226,966,715 tickets sold in 2019. I'm sure, among so many people there will be millions of Bitcoin holders, and thousands of them will buy those tickets, even maybe just to buy something with BTC, just like Laszlo Hanyecz did one day.

Hehe I might be exaggerating, however, yes there will be ticket sales in bitcoin but the bitcoiners’ purchase of them would be more for virtue signalling than buying for the movie ticket. It will be big news only in the beginning. I predict AMC will remove bitcoin acceptance within 5 years because of very few sales through bitcoin or they might try to increase sales through crypto by accepting altcoins hehehehe.

If there will be very few sales, then AMC will not lose much even in the worst case scenario, like 50% drop in price in a very short period of time, or even 80% drop during a longer period while they were still holding the BTC from ticket sales. Think of it, why would they stop accepting Bitcoin if they could easily afford the losses, and, at the same time, be respected by the ever-growing crypto community?

I was only speculating that they would stop only because they might begin to see it as useless in 5 years, however, I also said that they might continue to try to increase sales from cryptocoins by accepting some of the altcoins.

Also, you might be correct, because their acceptance might also be through a payments processor that would convert the coins to fiat for them.

[Betwrong]

~

I was only speculating that they would stop only because they might begin to see it as useless in 5 years, however, I also said that they might continue to try to increase sales from cryptocoins by accepting some of the altcoins.

Also, you might be correct, because their acceptance might also be through a payments processor that would convert the coins to fiat for them.

I wasn't accusing you of saying something wrong, mate. I know that, both, yours and mine, those are just our opinions. I think, most likely they will start accepting some other crytpos in the future, but I also think that even people in the AMC don't know for sure about that right now.

After rereading the article from the OP today, I noticed one important detail that we, in this thread, paid no attention to

AMC Entertainment said Monday it will start accepting bitcoin as payment for movie tickets and concessions if purchased online at all of its U.S. theaters.

I personally missed it because I didn't know what "concessions " meant in this context, and maybe others - for that reason too.

I was hanging out with a movie theater manager once, and was told that the revenue from selling snacks and drinks was equal to, or sometimes even higher than that from ticket selling. So, I think it's important.

[Kakmakr]

I have to say, when I started this thread... I did not think it would get this much debate. Absolutely great to see so many people, actively talking about this great announcement and how it can boost adoption.

I just hope this will get maximum exposure and that people will support this, because without support.... this will fade away and Merchants will stop accepting Bitcoin payments. (Like we have seen with Pizza chains that experimented with this before) 

Do not "hoard" those coins .....hoping for huge profits... use the coins to pay for entertainment and just buy more coins. Merchant adoption will boost consumer adoption and that will push up the demand and the Bitcoin price.